PITTSBURGH — The White House is calling for caution as new COVID subvariants emerge.
This comes as many have put the virus out of their minds, enjoying summer travel season and gatherings. Pittsburghers have varied opinions on the threat of the virus nearly two-and-a-half years into the pandemic.
“It’s something you think about every day,” Susan Rine said.
“I don’t have the shots. I don’t wear the mask. If I get it, I get it. I’m not real concerned,” Tracy Verbitsky said.
“What we really focus on is how many people come to the hospitals and have positive tests and how many need more extensive care,” Dr. Donald Yealy said.
Yealy is UPMC’s Chief Medical Officer and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine. He says the number of admissions across the health system’s 40 hospitals is steady - somewhere between 130 and 180 over the last several weeks.
“I expect we’ll see the ebb and flow like that as we, maybe even get a little higher and a little lower for periods of time, as both we adapt and the virus changes,” he said.
Tuesday, the White House emphasized two new variants, BA.4 and BA.5. They are subvariants of the omicron variant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that hospitalizations nationwide have doubled since April. The subvariants are also contributing to a spike in Europe.
“I fully expect the other variants in Europe [...] I expect we’ll see many, if not all, of them,” Yealy said.
Should we worry in our region? Yealy says no.
“They should be aware of it, but they shouldn’t worry about it because we can’t really change that part.”
Yealy says we should mask up indoors and get tested as soon as we feel sick. He says as far as summer fun goes, outside is still best. But, it doesn’t eliminate the risk.
“There are times when you could be outdoors but in a crowd and without a whole lot of air movement where the risk of transmission wouldn’t look much different than inside of a building.”
“Be smart and thoughtful about it every day because stopping the spread is a critical [part] of this whole pandemic, of the whole virus,” Rine said.
Yealy also stressed the important number isn’t the number of positives. With people testing at home, it’s difficult to track. He’s also reminding folks who are not vaccinated or have medical conditions that they are still at risk for serious outcomes.
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